Our Unimaginable Selves

“So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:16-21 NIV)

It happened early in the summer during my recovery from heart surgery. I was reclining on the couch, thinking about our ministry to students. One of them came to mind in a vivid, almost vision-like, way. She was standing in front of a group of young women speaking to them. That was it; but it was so vivid and so surprising that I am convinced it was from the Lord.  I thought and prayed about it for several months, unsure whether I should keep it to myself or share it with the student.  In the past several weeks, I had felt an increasing sense the time was approaching.  This week, at our large group meeting, she sat close to me, so I knew the time had come. Immediately after the meeting ended, I approached her and told her what I had envisioned. She was taken aback and unsure how to comprehend it, but thanked me for telling her.

Something I say fairly regularly to students is that the Lord wants us to become the men and women He created us to be. His original intent for us has been marred by sin, so He wants to re-create us. Like Michelangelo as he contemplated the block of marble in front of him that would eventually become David, God sees something the normal eye does not see. The great artist saw within the block of marble something beautiful, beyond the imagination or conception of others. In the same way, the Lord sees us in the midst of our encasement, our beauty and value hidden by the hardness and opacity of sin. But inside our “tomb,” we cannot see it; the darkness is overwhelming and often complete.

I believe that is the case with this student. She has struggled and fallen many times. She is unable to see who she really is. What she is surrounded by seems impossible to penetrate or to escape. She is stuck.  

This is exactly what Satan wants, for us to feel hopeless and powerless. He wants us to give up and just accept our predicament as unchangeable.  Look around and you will find many living just like this—they’re not good enough, have made too many wrong decisions in life, and are beyond saving. So they just muddle on through life until it’s over. Perhaps you feel this way or know others who do. 

What the Lord wants us all to know is sin doesn’t have to have its way with us. The Great Artist has both the desire and ability to recreate us. He can apply his skill and eye for beauty to chip away at what bounds us to eventually reveal who we truly are.  But it takes time, just as it took Michelangelo more than two years to bring his David out of that marble slab. But those who commissioned him had the confidence he could do it well before the statue began to take shape.  

Today, know the Lord is at work on freeing you. Be confident in His ability and be willing to allow Him to chip away. Like the student with whom I shared, He has a vision of who you truly are and what you can become. He can make you into the person He created you to be even if now you can’t even imagine it.  

© Jim Musser 2017